The Secret Amor
by Odessa
Summary: Lily Evens arrived at home from her usual outing to find the uncommon mark that started the first Wizarding war above where her house use to be, the Dark Mark. Lily must now adapt to her new life in Godric’s Hollow with The Potters.
1. The Dark Mark That Appeared

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" - Lord Voldemort.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The Secret Amor

By Odessa

Chapter 1

The Dark Mark That Appeared

A young girl walked down the street. Despite the late hour, she needed to think about some things; she just had so much on her mind. She had just finished her 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was in disbelief that in just two more years she would graduate. She started to worried about her friend, Severus. They had been friends ever since she moved across the street from him and it was he who told her about the wizarding world. Yet, recently he had started hanging out with some unpleasant people. It frightened her that he was getting into the dark arts. But what could she say to him? They had been friends forever; was it finally time for them to just realize that they were different?

Lily looked above at a Dark Mark fixed in the sky and she tensed up. Lily decided she better hurry home fast. Down the street, she noticed a crowd of people outside her house. 'What's going on?' she thought to herself. As she got closer she could see it was the Wizarding police standing beside her house which was destroyed. Her heart stopped. She ran over to a middle-aged man.

"What's going on?! Where are my parents?!" she screamed.

The man gave her a sad look… "Are you Lily?"

"Yes….Please, where is my family?" Lily said quietly, breaking into tears. She dropped to the ground unable to think because she was so scared.

The man knelt down beside her. "Something bad has happened."

"No…no," she said, hitting the ground and shaking her head. The man put an arm around her.

"Voldemort has attacked and killed your parents. We are …." But Lily didn't want to hear it.

"NOO!.....Please!" she said, trying to stand up and run toward what was left of her house. The man pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry…. I'm so sorry," he said soothingly.

Lily didn't know what was happening but she screamed. She stared at where her house had stood, now in ashes, and felt that her life was now over.

"Lily! Are you okay!? I saw the sign over your house." Lily recognized the voice. She looked up.

"Severus…"

"Lily, are you okay?" Severus said, taking her into his arms.

She pulled away from him. "Please leave me alone," she said, pulling away and settling on the ground crying.

Severus walked towards her. "Lily what can I do for you." He asked quietly.

"You can leave." She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

The man who was helping her asked him to leave. He put up a fight about it and Lily could hear the hurt and the worry in Severus' voice. She didn't care. She didn't want to see him; all she wanted to do was crawl under a bush and make it go away, but she couldn't.

She heard Severus finally leave. The man came and sat next to her again, not saying anything but just sitting quietly while she cried. She cried more than she ever thought she could cry.

After awhile, another man stood over her. Lily ignored him, refusing to look. "Lily, I'm Mr. Johnson. We need to figure out a place for you to go," he said.

Lily thought hard; she didn't think of that part. She had no one. No where to go, no one to love, she was homeless and had nothing. Her own sister whom she didn't get along with was back packing with a friend through France. Apart from her, Lily had no other family. She stopped crying and she backed away from the two men. "I have nothing…. I have nothing," she said almost to herself than to them.

The man who comforted her stood up. "Lily, stay here. I need to talk to Mr. Johnson. I am Matt Potter, by the way." The man stood and pointed at a taller man, heaver in weight. For the first time, Lily lifted her chin and took a good look at him. He was a very tall man, older in age with dark hair and brown eyes. He had a very calm and comforting feature about him.

Lily stared at him and nodded. "Okay," she whispered softly.

Mr. Potter walked over to the other man and Lily listened as the pair seemed to be in an argument. "I will take her home. She can live with us until she goes to Hogwarts," Mr. Potter said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Mr. Johnson replied.

"Well, I'm not really asking for your opinion," Mr. Potter started to turn away when the man spoke more harshly, raising his voice just a little.

"Stop being stubborn! You have a wife and two boys living at your house. Do you realize that if you take her home that you are putting them in more danger than you all ready have? I don't know why Voldemort wants her, but he didn't come and kill her parents for nothing. We can put her as a helper in an orphanage. Don't be a fool!"

Mr. Potter's voice dropped as he grew angrier. "Mr. Johnson, I am not sure why Voldemort likes to go around killing people, but don't you realize we are in war? We are all in danger! No one is in more danger than the other! We must all work together to help each other!" Mr. Potter raised his voice. "Never, ever doubt my judgment. I would never put my family in more danger than they are already in! I think I can decide that for myself. Now excuse me; I think Lily is tired and probably in need of sleep."

Mr. Johnson talked more quietly now retaining his anger "I'm sorry, Matt. You know I think highly of you…."

"Thank you for the concern," Mr. Potter said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I will fill out the paper work tomorrow at the office. Right now, it is almost one. We have been out here for hours. If you want to be helpful, call my wife and tell her what happen. Tell her to have the boys in their room when I get home and have the guest room made up. I have to talk to Lily. Thanks, Greg. Oh and if you don't mind I need to Barrow a Ministry Car."

Mr. Potter turned away and walked back to Lily. "My wife and I would be very pleased if you would come stay with us for the rest of the summer until you go back to Hogwarts. Well…. We wont take no for an answer Lily."

Lily looked at him. That was really nice of him. She didn't know what to say but felt so close to him. She just stood up and gave him a hug. "Thank you," she mumbled.

The car ride to the Potter's was a long one. Lily really didn't know what to say; all she knew was that she wanted to cry but she just couldn't any more.

"So…. tell me about yourself. What do you like to do for fun? What's your favorite subject? What do you hate?"

"Well I love to read. I love Charms." Lily couldn't hold it in any longer. She had so many questions and she was so confused. "Why did this happen to them? What did they do? It's because of me, isn't it? They would still be alive if it wasn't for me, huh?" Lily looked out the window. This was all her fault.

Mr. Potter stopped the car and looked at Lily. "There is one thing you have to remember: this is not your fault. Never ever think that. When you start thinking that, Voldemort wins. That's exactly what he wants you to think. You are a powerful witch, Lily. I don't know why Voldemort did it, but he did. The only thing we can do is live on. He is evil and unhappy, he and wants you to feel sad, and of course you are. But, you can't let him win. You must keep living your life. Promise me that you will, Lily."

"I promise," she said softly but barely enough for him to hear. She was feeling so tired from what happened. A little way ahead, she saw a town. Mr. Potter drove through the dark streets until he finally slowed down and pulled into a garage. Lily climbed out of the car and walked to the door. She was welcome by whom she assumed to be Mrs. Potter. "Oh, you must be Lily."

"Lily, this is my wife. Lorie," Mr. Potter introduced, putting an arm around her waist.

"Hi, Lily. Do you need anything? Are you hungry? I'll go make you something to eat and some tea." Lily noticed that Mrs. Potter was a beautiful woman she had a little blonde bob haircut and bright, blue eyes. Her face looked so calm and very comforting like her husbands but also was older in age.

"I am okay," Lily responded. All she wanted to do was go to sleep.

"I think that Lily is pretty tired," Mr. Potter said, sounding tired himself.

"Well, I made up the guess room. I'll show you where it is. Oh and here our some Clothes and I'll wash what you are wearing." Mrs. Potter handed her what looked like basketball shorts and a t-shirt that obviously belong to one of their sons.

"Thank you."

Mr. Potter watched his wife lead Lily away before he retreated upstairs to find his sons. He knocked on his oldest son's door knowing he would find both of them talking quietly. Every time he came home late from an investigation, he could hear the boy's whispers in the room.

"Hi, Dad, what happened?" James, his younger son, asked.

"Well," he began tiredly, closing the door behind him, and sitting on the end of the bed. Robert sat at the desk while his youngest son, James, was settled on the other side of the bed with his legs crossed. "Voldemort killed a young girl's parents.'

"He needs to be stopped, Dad," James said, hitting the bed with his fist, which sprang right back up at him.

"Yes, he does. I agree with you but we can't stop him tonight."

"The poor girl…how old is she?" Robert asked.

"James' age, her name is Lily Evans."

"Lily? What is she going to do?" James asked confused and sympathetic.

"Well, that's really what we need to talk about. She has no family. She has an older sister that is in France with a friend but she can't take care of Lily. She has no where to go. They wanted to put her in one of those orphanages as a helper during the summer but I wouldn't let them." Mr. Potter paused. "I invited her to stay with us—for the summer until Hogwarts. Then we need to decide what to do. So, you guys need to behave your selves."

"Come on, Dad, you know us," Robert said with a smile to lighten up the mood.

"I do. Go to sleep tonight and you will see her in the morning. Make her feel at home and invite her to hang out with you and your friends."

"Of course I will," James agreed. He was always the one who would do anything that his father suggested. Mr. Potter was the one person that everyone looked up to, including James. He wished that someday that he could be as great as his father is.

Mr. Potter got up. "Good night, boys." He exited the room and closed the door behind him. James couldn't believe that this had happened. His parents were in so much danger everyday. Voldemort could attack at any moment if he wanted to.

"I ought to know her if she is in your year," Robert said to James while writing on a parchment on his desk.

"Yeah she is the redheaded Gryffindor prefect. She was friends with Snape."

"Oh, that's right. She seems really nice and, if I remember correctly, she does know how to stand up for herself."

"I asked her out once. She was busy…" James thought back to the time at the pond after their O.W.L.'s where in the midst of antagonizing Snape, he had asked her out.

Robert looked up and smiled at him knowingly. "Yeah, well don't worry. I'm sure she doesn't even remember." Robert stood up from the desk. "Hey, I'm really tired and I have been filling out these job applications all day. We will talk more tomorrow."

James got up from the bed, stretched and preceded to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." He said, closing his brother's door behind him.


	2. To A New Life

Hey guys! I'm sorry I deleted this once before, while in the mix up of trying to put up this chapter it just deleted a few things for some reason. So it's back up! Enjoy and please review at the end I want to know what you guys think! ^_^

The Secret Amor

By Odessa

The following week was a very hard one for the Potter family. Insensitive reporters would come to the house everyday demanding interviews with Mr. Potter and Lily. Mr. Potter was also very busy at the ministry. The wizarding world now felt that Voldemort would be targeting the families of Muggle-borns. This was news to the wizarding world causing a panic among half-bloods and Muggle-borns alike who were eager to protect their non-magical loved ones and looked to the ministry for protection. But the Potters had more to worry about than pesky reporters that were eager to make a quick galleon. Their worry was for another reason-Lily Evans had not come out since the night she arrived at the Potter Residence.

Mrs. Potter was making breakfast in the kitchen that morning. Mr. Potter sat at the table looking over some paper work while James and Robert sat on the stools at the bar arguing which broom was better, the new Cleansweep broom that had just released or the newly released Nimbus that was just a year old from a newer company, just trying to get its start.

"Nimbus is suppose to be just for racing!" James argued. "They designed it to go faster! I don't care how long Cleansweep has been around, their broom will not compare."

Robert shook his head in frustration. "I already said they just released the new one which is more focused on racing. Higher maximum speed and everything! I'm done talking about this," he declared.

Mrs. Potter stopped cooking and James and Robert looked up from there argument. "Matt, she hasn't come out of her room since she came here. She barely eats anything! Maybe you should go talk to her."

"Maybe we could ask her to come down for some meals?" Mr. Potter suggested as he glanced at his wife.

"Maybe she is annoyed with someone already and we should send him away to make it easier for her," Robert added looking over at James.

"Robert!" Mrs. Potter snapped, setting eggs in front of him and James. "I highly doubt she cares about whatever happened between her and James right now. Please don't mention it."

Robert threw his hands in the air. "I'm just saying it might help if someone doesn't put down someone else's friends non-stop!"

"I don't understand what she sees in the greasy-haired boy," James responded defensively.

"James, you really do need to grow up out of your rivalries," Mr. Potter said looking up from his paper.

"Sorry," James apologized, watching a big, gray owl fly in the window and drop the mail onto the table. At the sight of the Daily Prophet, Mr. Potter grew very quiet. He quickly picked up the Daily prophet and scanned the front page. James looked over at Robert and made a face wondering what the front page said.

After a few minutes, Mr. Potter stood up. "I need to leave for work now," he announced walking over to his wife and set the Daily Prophet down next to her. "I'll let you know when I expect to be home." He kissed his wife on the cheek, and then stepped out the door and disapparated. Once he was gone, James stood up to glance over at the newspaper, reading over his mother's shoulder.

YOUNG GIRL'S PARENTS KILLED BY VOLDEMORT

Last Wednesday night an attack was made in a muggle neighborhood. Two Muggles where killed, parents of Lily Evans, a student attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily, a soon to be sixth year, had been out of the house when the attack occurred, but later returned to find her house burned down and the Dark Mark hanging where it once was. Matt Potter, Auror at the Ministry of Magic, was one of the first at the scene, though he has declined making a statement. Ms. Evans is now staying at the residence of the Potters. Some may feel that this is a ploy for Mr. Potter's campaign for Minister of Magic.

---

Upstairs and down the hall, Lily Evans had been lying face-down on her bed when she heard a knock on her door. She turned around in time to hear a voice coming from the hallway. "Lily, I was just wondering if you were hungry. Do you want anything?" It was Mrs. Potter.

"Oh. No thanks, I'm fine," she replied quietly, her voice sounding shaky and dry.

There was a brief pause as if Mrs. Potter was debating whether to open the door or not. "Okay… but Lily, if you need anything just come down and we will help you."

"Thank you," Lily responded, but she knew she wouldn't leave; she didn't want anything. All she did want was to sleep and sleep and never wake up; to get rid of that sick feeling she still had. She rolled onto her side to look at the clock. It was almost noon and though she was emotionally tired, she knew she couldn't go to sleep again and it was time to wake up. How could this have happened to her? She thought again. More than ever, she wanted to be back at her home with her family. Now her only family left hated her. Petunia must hate her now more then ever.

She looked over to the dresser at some unopened envelopes. Owls, from her friends, had been coming all week. Flying in and dropping them off. She turned away and grabbed a book from next to her to try to forget everything.

---

Mrs. Potter walked back downstairs and took a seat next to James on the coach.

"How is she?" James asked curiously.

"Not that good. Your dad said to maybe have her come down for meals but then she just doesn't want to eat. She's already not eating enough when I take her food," Mrs. Potter said anxiously.

"I'm sure she will come out soon. It must be boring," James replied more as a thought.

"Yes, I'm hoping she will, too," Mrs. Potter sighed, then added to James, "We have a meeting tonight. Robert is going to come with us so I will need you to stay here with Lily. It might help him decide what he wants to do in the future. By the way, do you know where he is?"

"I think he went to Anna's," James answered. "He said he would be home for dinner."

Mrs. Potter looked surprised. "Oh, he didn't tell me. Although he is over there a lot, I should have known."

"I'm sure they will be getting married soon," James added. "I would not believe in love if they end up breaking up." An owl came in and dropped a letter on James lap.

"Who is it from?" Mrs. Potter asked.

James opened the letter and read. "Sirius," he answered simply.

Prongs,

Is your dad and everything okay? How's Lily? I just overheard my mum talking about it and then I went to find the Prophet_._ Can you believe that article!? Write me fast. I don't know how much longer I can take this house, James. The more powerful Voldemort gets the sicker it gets around here. Just let me know.

-Padfoot

"He just read the article. Peter did, too—he sent me one this morning. I'll be back down to help you in the garden to get rid of the gnomes outside," James promised and went running up the stairs. He sat at his desk and grabbed Peter's letter.

Prongs,

Voldemort needs to be stopped. But Lily's staying in your house? Won't that get a little loud? We need to all get together soon the news is getting more depressing.

-Wormtail

Wormtail,

Everything is fine. Yeah, I'm not sure that we will get along to well but I'll try not to be a prat. I'll keep you updated. They will stop Voldemort soon.

-Prongs

James grabbed another piece of parchment.

Padfoot,

Dad was pretty mad about the article. And Lily, she hasn't come out of her room since she's been here, but who could blame her? I don't think I can hang out for the next few weeks. For your family, just put a silence charm over your door then when they come for something and you can ignore them. Or maybe you can put a few curses when they say certain words soap comes out of there moths. Things will calm down around here and you can come and stay with us for the rest of the summer. We should check on Moony, have you heard from him?

-Prongs

James sealed both letter and tied them on to his owl, Aura. "Take these to Wormtail and Padfoot," James directed her and watched as the owl fly out the window. James, knowing that his mom was stressed, then turned away and headed back down to help her for the rest of the day.

---

Lily tried everything to distract herself from the grief. None of it seemed to work. Lily put down the book she had been reading and walked around the room. The clock next to her bed read half past nine and she was starting to get hungry. After not eating the entire day, she finally decided it would be okay to go downstairs and find something to eat. Moving through the house, she noticed the Potter's house was very nice. It wasn't big and lavishly decorated but instead was homey and comfortable. She wasn't sure where anything was and so paused for a second at the bottom of the stairs before walking into the living room. She saw James sitting on the couch writing. He looked up at her just as she walked in.

"Hi, Lily." He paused not quite certain how to act. "Is there anything I can get you?" James said with a big grin on his face. He noticed she was wearing some of his old clothes. The over sized maroon t-shirt hung to the middle of her thighs. It read, Gorodok Gargoyles Vs. Woollongong Warriors 1974 in gold. The un-matched navy blue work out shorts he had once favored, but too soon grew out of, fit perfectly on Lily. This made his heart skip a few beats; she looked absolutely adorable in his clothes. He tried to push these thoughts out of his head as she spoke.

"I'm actually…a little hungry." She admitted and walked over to the coach couch where he was sitting.

"Oh. I'll make you something. Is there anything that you want?" he asked, standing up.

"Anything is fine, James," Lily answered and just as she was about to follow him, the Daily Prophet caught her eye on the living room table. The front page flashed with big words saying, YOUNG GIRLS PARENTS KILLED BY VOLDEMORT with a picture of her crying in front of the remains of her house.

James, knowing what she was looking at, stepped in front of her to block the view of the paper. "Don't worry about that, Lily," he said "You know how they are; just trying to sell papers. Let me show you the kitchen."

"James, can I please read it?" she said softly to him, moving around him and picking it up. Lily's eyes began to water. This just happen a week ago and the memories played back in her mind as she read the article. "I had no idea that this would happen," Lily whispered sadly.

James took the paper out of her hand. "Lily…." James paused. "They're just a bunch of phonies over at the Prophet. Like I said, they are just trying to sell a paper to make money. Don't worry about this article," he said chipper as he walked over and threw it in the garbage. "I'm still trying to figure out why we even get the Daily Prophet. So, about food. I personally like cheese sandwiches."

Lily looked at James. "I'm not very hungry any more."

"Well…. we could just skip the main course and go straight into dessert, considering that's the best part. How about ice cream?" James suggested.

Lily gave a weak smile. "Ice cream would be good, if you have any."

"Yeah. We have all kinds! The kitchen is very well stocked with it." And he showed Lily into the kitchen.

James opened the freezer. "Have a seat." James gestured towards the table. "It looks like we have…vanilla, French vanilla, and double vanilla oh and here's vanilla bean? I never knew there were so many vanillas." James had a puzzled expression on his face.

Lily let out a small giggle. "I guess Vanilla."

"Good choice! That's my favorite….Which one?" James asked again, staring inside the freezer.

"Regular vanilla?" Lily said questioningly.

James pulled out two bowls and scooped out the ice cream into them then went to join Lily at the kitchen table, setting one of the bowls in front of her. "I hate to bother you with my stories but, this one time Sirius and I just finished our first year. He came and stayed that summer and we went to this ice cream parlor pretty close to here. Sirius decided it was necessary to try every single kind of ice cream before he decided what he wanted. He tried all 63 flavors. The owner still looks at us weird when we go there."

Lily snorted into her bowl. "Why didn't the owner stop him?"

James laughed. "Sirius threw a big fit saying that he would purchase something but he hadn't decided yet. Then he said stuff about him having his ice cream rights taken away. Really, he was making a scene and the owner just wanted him to be quiet because the costumers where staring."

"He is unique, isn't he?" Lily said jokingly.

James looked thoughtful for a second. "I don't know if unique is the right word…maybe strange, unusual, and insane."

Lily smiled. "For how much of a troublemaker he is, the teachers love him."

"Yeah I haven't yet figured out how he does that," James admitted.

Lily talked to James for quite along time and really enjoyed herself. Lily thought to herself maybe she could get along with James Potter. He just seemed like one of those people who thought they knew everything and bullied people around. It also didn't help that Severus, one of her closest friends, and James were always fighting. But right now, outside of school, James seemed okay.

After awhile Lily began to wonder why the house was so quiet. "Where are your parents? They are so nice to let me stay here."

"They are at a meeting."

"Oh really?" Lily said curiously.

"Yeah, I shouldn't know this," James began with a proud smirk on his face, "but I guess Dumbledore is trying to start some kind of group separate from the Ministry to fight against Voldemort. He feels that there are too many spies working for Voldemort at the Ministry. He thought that if they get a smaller, trustful, manageable, group dealing with information they have a better chance of keeping it from Voldemort. When the Ministry found out, they freaked. I'm not sure why; it doesn't really make sense. My parents and some other people are at a meeting with Dumbledore talking about what they can do. "

Lily sighed. "It's just horrible…. How do you know all that?"

"Well I…overheard my parents talking about it. It's not my fault they talk in plain earshot," he added with a wink.

"James," Lily said in a jokingly stern voice.

He shrugged. "Well my brother filled me in on most of it he went with them, too."

"Does it scare you? That your whole family is joining a group to fight Voldemort?" Lily asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I am," James answered, "but I can't help to admire them for being so strong. One day I will be there to fight for peace."

"Me, too," Lily said simply in a whisper and the mood suddenly changed from happy to painful, awkward silence. Just as James was trying to think of a joke to tell to break the silence, they heard the front door open.

"Your parents are home." Lily pointed out.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked to the kitchen.

"Lily! How are you doing? Do you need anything?" Mrs. Potter asked as soon as she spotted the red-headed girl. She looked happy to see Lily out of the room.

"I'm fine, I just ate," Lily smiled at James.

Robert walked in to the room after looking quite grim. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep," he announced grimly. "But Lily! I'll see you tomorrow!" he said the second part in a happier tone.

"See you," Lily nodded her head and he went up stairs.

"Why don't we go talk for a second, Lily?" Mr. Potter suggested.

"Sure." Lily followed Mr. Potter out of the room and into his study. Lily thought Mr. Potter was a really charismatic, but still very serious. She could definitely see him being the next Minister of Magic.

"How are you feeling, Lily?" Mr. Potter asked as soon as the door was shut behind her.

"Good. But do you remember when we where in the car and you said that thing about not letting Voldemort win?" He nodded his head and she continued. "Well, I don't want him to win but it's really hard. I don't know how to do it. I always think about it every second and it's too hard. He took what makes me happy away."

"It will be hard but I can't promise it will get easier, but there eventually it will get better. Just keep going. And we are here to help as much as we can," he promised and put a comforting arm on her shoulder.

Lily looked around not knowing what to say. She knew that he was right; it would get better. But at the same time, it didn't make her feel any better. Trying to distract herself from her emotions, she spotted some pictures sitting on the mantel. There was a lot of James and Robert when they were younger but among them, there was one which caught her eye. There were three kids standing together—a boy and a girl wearing Gryffindor robes and the other girl wearing Slytherin. All three were making funny faces repeatedly at each other and then turning and doing it towards the camera.

"Who is that?" Lily asked curiously.

Mr. Potter glanced at the photo that Lily was referring to. "That one?" he gestured towards it, the oldest of all of the pictures. "That's me and my two sisters."

"Where are they, if you don't mind me asking?" The question was impulsive, but her curiosity got the better of her and the question slipped before she could think twice about it. "I'm sorry…that was a personal question. You don't have to answer."

Mr. Potter stared at the picture a second before he answered. "They died…a while ago." He looked back at Lily. "I do know how it is to lose a family member to Dark Magic. You will always ask yourself if you did everything you could do to help them; if you were good enough to them when they were alive. But Lily, don't do that to yourself. I'm sure you did everything you could and there was nothing you could do to change what happened…"

"I won't… I'll….I'll try. Thank you, Mr. Potter." Knowing that their conversation was over, Lily was about to turn around to walk out when she stopped suddenly. "Does that article hurt you for your Minister of Magic job?" she asked with concern.

Mr. Potter laughed. "Not at all! They are always coming out with articles that are ridiculous. I'm sure by now people can figure out what is nonsense. Don't let it get to you. We are here for you, Lily, and that's what I wanted you to know. "


End file.
